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Mavic Air bad camera/lens?  Rate Topic 
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Posted by Rayancaleb: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 08:03 1st Post
Hi,

Bad lens on my Mavic Air? Haven't even flown it yet due to the terrible weather so thought i would test out the camera quickly and was massively disappointed in what I saw, both in the video and photos.
The first image is a photo (cropped into the centre area a bit) and the second is a screen shot from the video (just resized). Is I would expect some distortion towards the edge of the frame, but not the waveyness on the horizontal in the centre. Anything similar going on with your air or is my camera faulty?

Please help.

I didn't find the right solution from the Internet.


Thanks



Posted by Eric: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 11:03 2nd Post
I've only flown a drone twice and they were both Phantom 4s...so my experience is of no help. Also not aware of any members ever mentioning flying drones on this forum...we tend to be just NIkon terrestrial photographers. I would have thought you would get more informed suggestions from the mavicpilots website....but I may be wrong.
Your example photos aren't visible so it's impossible to give a photographers opinion on the cause.



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Posted by Robert: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 13:23 3rd Post
Hi and welcome to the Nikon DSLR forum.

As Eric said, this isn't our speciality but I can say having had a quick look at your links that this is typical of micro cameras used in these flying devices (drones?).

In order to get a wider angle with such small sensors, inevitably compromise has to be made between cost, quality and lightness. The result is loads of distortion.

At this scale the distortion is pretty well unavoidable. If it's a huge issue then it can be corrected using Adobe Lightroom or other software. I believe that can also apply to video recordings too, although in both cases it means losing some of the image.



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Robert.



Posted by jk: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 14:07 4th Post
Hi Rayancaleb, Not sure that we have the experience to help you.



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Posted by Eric: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 15:48 5th Post
Robert wrote:
Hi and welcome to the Nikon DSLR forum.

As Eric said, this isn't our speciality but I can say having had a quick look at your links that this is typical of micro cameras used in these flying devices (drones?).

In order to get a wider angle with such small sensors, inevitably compromise has to be made between cost, quality and lightness. The result is loads of distortion.

At this scale the distortion is pretty well unavoidable. If it's a huge issue then it can be corrected using Adobe Lightroom or other software. I believe that can also apply to video recordings too, although in both cases it means losing some of the image.

The Phantom 4 has a 1", 20mp sensor, Robert. Very impressive IQ.
I don't know what focal length its lens is, but given that you have to fly at above 30m having a wide angle could be a handicap...so I 'think' they may be longer than you would expect. But don't quote me. :-)

I recall doing a fix point rotation around a rugby H from 30m and it occupied almost 1/3 of the frame.



____________________
Eric


Posted by Robert: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 16:20 6th Post
Well the images I saw on the linked page were heavily distorted pin-cushion. o.O

Not sure why the OP even posted here?

Weight has to be a major issue with these things, the fact they work at all is something to be marvelled at, expecting perfect, distortion free images is optimistic in my view.

On a side note... I understand Hassleblad have been taken over by a drone manufacturer, obviously they wanted to bring the camera design 'in-house'. Perhaps the OP should strap a Hassleblad under his drone?



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Robert.



Posted by Eric: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 17:57 7th Post
Robert wrote:
Well the images I saw on the linked page were heavily distorted pin-cushion. o.O

Not sure why the OP even posted here?

Weight has to be a major issue with these things, the fact they work at all is something to be marvelled at, expecting perfect, distortion free images is optimistic in my view.

On a side note... I understand Hassleblad have been taken over by a drone manufacturer, obviously they wanted to bring the camera design 'in-house'. Perhaps the OP should strap a Hassleblad under his drone?

The general critique of many drones is in common with many small sensor cameras....in low light noise levels become an issue.

They are not, at the moment, going to compare favourably with a DSLR but the sensor specs on Phantom 4 Pro models is comparable with many bridge cameras....1" sensors and 20mp. The lenses are also not Leicas! But as with terrestrial cameras and lenses you can get good and bad versions at most price bands.

I haven't looked at the op links...to be honest I wasn't sure why he posted here when he asked the same question on drone pilot websites. But the image below is from a cheap Mavic drone used by my mate Carl (think you met him testing his D700 some years ago?) Both the sensor size and mp of this drone are inferior to Phantoms and the more upmarket Mavics.

It may not be sharp as you like but don't see any distortion in this example?

o.O

Attachment: 009542DF-68BC-4156-9A10-946060CD90E4.jpeg (Downloaded 7 times)



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Eric


Posted by Eric: Thu Mar 15th, 2018 18:14 8th Post
I should add that the Mavic Inspire 2 can have different cameras fitted. The basic model has a camera comparable with the Phantom 4 Pro...but £2000 more! Add the top camera and it's another £2000!!!!

It's the same sort of debate as £3000 Pro model Nikons versus cheaper models. The cheaper ones often achieve 80-90% of the results for 30% of the price.

o.O

The key point about drone photography, or in fact more significantly imho filming, is they give a perspective on the subject you cannot achieve without expensive or cumbersome equipment ( helicopters or cherry pickers). Dare I say, you don't need the money shot from the drone, it's unique position can overcome less than perfect camera performance, just by being there.



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Eric

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